1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an information recording apparatus and an information recording method. More particularly, the present invention relates to an information recording apparatus and an information recording method for erasing prerecorded information on a recording medium and recording new information on the recording medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
Reversible thermal recording media (hereafter, may be simply called thermal recording media), on which information can be recorded and erased repeatedly by using, for example, a thermal printer, are drawing attention in terms of environmental protection and recycling. A typical thermal recording medium includes a recording layer on which leuco dye, which interchangeably takes colored and decolored states, is applied. Information can be recorded on or erased from the thermal recording medium by partially coloring or decoloring the recording layer by applying appropriate heat to the recording layer. Patent document 1 discloses a thermal printer for repeatedly recording information on such a thermal recording medium.
[Patent document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2008-65686
Generally, before information is recorded on a thermal recording medium using, for example, a thermal printer, prerecorded information is erased from the thermal recording medium. Therefore, with a conventional thermal printer, extra time is necessary to heat an erasing head to an erasing temperature and to erase prerecorded information on a thermal recording medium with the heated erasing head before information can be recorded on the thermal recording medium after a recording request is input, for example, by a user.
Also, before starting to erase information on a thermal recording medium, it is necessary to heat a heating device of a thermal printer to a temperature (erasing temperature) needed to erase information on the thermal recording medium. Accordingly, when the heating device is cooled to about the ambient temperature, it takes some time to heat the heating device to the erasing temperature. Thus, when recording information on a thermal recording medium some time after the previous recording, it is necessary to reheat a cooled heating device to an erasing temperature and therefore the time required before starting the information recording on the thermal recording medium after a recording request is received becomes even longer.